Protesters To Air Objections At Consumers Plant Hearing

November 5, 1985|By Ann Moore and Elaine Bennett of The Sentinel Staff

SANFORD — More than a hundred residents angry at the galloping growth in the Red Bug and Lake Howell areas are expected to turn out tonight for public hearings on the proposed expansion of the Consumers Water and Sewer Plant.

The hearings on four issues all related to the plant expansion will begin at 7 p.m. in the County Services Building on First Street. Those hearings are the only items on the commissioners' agenda.

Seminole County's environmental services staff has asked that the county be allowed to double the size of the sewer plant on Dike Road to 2 million gallons a day of capacity. Two other requests are to allow percolation ponds on property along Dike Road north of Lake Howell Estates and on land between the county park and the elementary school on Red Bug Lake Road. The final request is to allow irrigation of the Deer Run golf course with treated wastewater from the plant.

The county's Board of Adjustment has approved all four requests, but residents with the Committee on Controlled Growth appealed the decisions to the county commission.

Dan Bushrui, president of that committee, which includes people living in 15 subdivisions near the plant, said they have obtained legal counsel and plan to seek an injunction against the expansion unless the county looks at other alternatives for sewage treatment in the area.

On Monday, Bushrui and other members of the committee met with county commissioners ''to express our concerns and to offer our assistance in trying to resolve the problem,'' Bushrui said.

Bushrui, who met with Commissioners Bill Kirchoff and Barbara Christensen, said, ''It was like a poker game. They were nice and courteous, but I really couldn't tell one way or the other whether they would consider studying other alternatives or simply endorse the Board of Adjustment's decision.''

''We're not trying to threaten anyone,'' he said. ''We are just asking them to study the problem further. If they won't listen to us, then we will do what is necessary to protect our rights.''

Residents in the Red Bug Lake Road and Dike Road areas filled the commission chambers when the Board of Adjustment considered the four issues on Aug. 19 and Sept. 16. Residents objected to odors from the plant, cited health concerns and said they did not want a regional treatment plant in their area. County representatives said the improved plant would not have odor problems, the effluent to be sprayed on the golf courses will be clean enough to bathe in and the expanded plant will not serve a regional area.

The county will have deputy sheriffs and fire marshal representatives at the meeting for crowd control, said commission chairman Robert Sturm. The commission chamber seats about 100. The extra residents will sit outside the meeting room but will be able to hear the conversation through the public address system.